


Your Home, Your Family, Your Forever

by A_Marie



Category: The Night Shift (TV 2014)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 07:04:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11202918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Marie/pseuds/A_Marie
Summary: What happened after the season finale? My version of Brianna's adoption story.





	Your Home, Your Family, Your Forever

**Author's Note:**

> I finally finished this one - my goal was to finish it before the season premiere and I only have a few days to spare. I don't know much about family court so that part is completely made up in my head.

Celebration ice cream, rocky road with hot fudge, whipped cream and 2 cherries. It was the perfect end to a stressful, headache inducing day. Driving home, for the first time as a family of 3, was the beginning of the greatest days of their lives. The idea of adoption had been talked about before, they started discussing children before they even thought they would get married. They had both seen children in their future but the conversations turned more serious after they had gotten married. While they were still discussing their options, Brianna came into Drew’s life and he brought her into Rick’s life and the decision was made almost instantly, she was their daughter. She was brought into this world to be theirs and before they even told her their intentions, they had started the process. They knew it would not be easy but it would be worth it and upon the advice of her social worker, Nina, they would delay telling her until they were sure it was possible.

Now, they were headed home, to the home they had created and were excited to expand. As most foster children, she was first allowed supervised visitation, then home visitation and finally overnight visitation. It was during these visits that they started to really feel like a family, Drew and Rick started to learn what Brianna had experienced as a foster child in the state system. She didn’t unpack until her 10th visit, she always asked for a drink or a snack even though they had told her to help herself, whenever they offered to buy her something she always turned them down and her bag was always packed as if she was waiting to leave. Tonight, she was coming home, to her room, her clothes, her space and she was staying for the rest of her life.

The gentle pressure of Brianna’s sleeping form leaning against Drew was the greatest feeling in the world, he loved her more than he thought possible and he was happy to have his girl coming home. He looked over at Rick in the driver’s seat and they shared a smile, of love and happiness. Tomorrow, the ink would be dried on the paper but tonight, she was finally their daughter, tomorrow was a formality. Rick pulled into the driveway of their two story house with a fenced in yard and front porch complete with rocking chair and glider. It was their little piece of perfect, waiting inside was the dog Rick adopted while Drew was deployed, another piece of their puzzle. Drew gently shook Brianna to wake her up, but she didn’t budge. After a few unsuccessful attempts, Drew handed Rick his backpack.

“Can you take this? I’ll carry her in.”

Rick grabbed the bag from Drew’s hands, “She’s a little big to carry.”

“I got her.”

Drew lifted her up and she automatically curled around his body, her head placed on his shoulder. He held her close as they headed into the house, through the front door and up the stairs to her room. Rick opened the door and Drew laid her down on the bed, she mumbled something in her sleep but curled up as Drew pulled the covers over her. He leaned down to kiss her forehead and then moved out of the way for Rick to do the same before they closed the door behind them and headed to their own room, exhausted from a very long day.

Lying in bed together facing one another, Rick spoke first. “She’s home. Our girl is here.”

“She is. I can’t wait for tomorrow to be done.” Drew leaned in to kiss Rick, “By the way, we need to order more food, Bri apparently invited most of the hospital.”  
Rick stroked Drew’s face, “Anything for her.”

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” They leaned into one more kiss before falling asleep, completely exhausted but content.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rick heard a scuffle outside of the bedroom door, it was loud enough to pull him from his sleep, but not loud enough to wake Drew who was still peacefully sleeping. Rick pulled his prosthetic on and figured it must be the dog but wasn’t going to ignore the noise, just in case. He pulled the door open and caught his breath when he saw Brianna, with her pillow and blanket, sleeping on the floor outside of their bedroom door. 

He leaned down to wake her up, “Hey Bri.” 

She sleepily opened her eyes to see Rick’s concerned face. “Hi.”

“What’s going on?”

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“Come on, let’s get you up and in your room. I’ll come with you.”

Brianna stood up and grabbed her blanket, Rick grabbing her pillow and followed her to her room. She must have gotten up earlier because Rick noticed she had changed into pajamas.

Rick helped her get back into bed and covered her once again. “What’s going on?”

“It was really quiet….”

“And you’re used to the noises at the hospital.”

Brianna looked down, not wanting to look Rick in the eye, ashamed that she couldn’t stay in her room by herself at her age. Rick tipped her face up to look at him, “It’s ok.”

Brianna’s eyes started to water. “I’m sorry I woke you up.”

Rick pulled Brianna into his arms, “You don’t ever have to apologize to me, honey. You’re our daughter, good, bad, happy, sad – you can always be honest with us. We love you.”

“Will you stay until I fall asleep?” Brianna looked up at Rick.

“Always.” Rick settled onto the bed with Brianna wrapped around him. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Dad.” 

Now it was Rick’s turn to get teary-eyed, he kissed the top of her head and waited for her to fall asleep, not realizing that he too would fall asleep. It was only when the sun was starting to come up that he started to wake up, himself. He slowly extricated himself from Brianna’s arms and headed back to his own bedroom.

Drew’s eyes were open when Rick walked back into the room. “What’s going on? Is Bri ok?”

“She will be.” Rick climbed back into the bed, scooting close to Drew. “She woke up and I found her sleeping on the floor outside of our door.”

“Why didn’t she wake us up?”

“She’s still seems unsure, it’ll get better.”

Drew looked at the clock on the bedside table which read 6:00am. “You sleep a little longer, I’m going to get a workout in, make some breakfast and I’ll check on her.”

“Thanks.”

Drew pulled on a shirt and headed downstairs in his favorite pair of Rick’s sweatpants and an old worn Army shirt. Drew got a quick workout in and headed upstairs to shower before he started breakfast, he stopped to look into Bri’s room and found her curled up on the bed, hair disheveled and a peaceful smile on her face. She was perfect.

After his shower, he dressed and quietly left the bedroom to make breakfast for his two favorite people. They didn’t have to be at the courthouse until 11am, it gave them enough time to have breakfast together before they officially became a family of three. At Brianna’s request, only the 3 of them and Nina, her social worker would be present. They had plans for a pizza party at their house in the afternoon but the morning was all about them. Drew started to make homemade waffles, Brianna’s favorite breakfast food. They bought a waffle maker after her first overnight visit when she wanted waffles in the morning and they had the frozen kind, not the fresh made ones her foster mother used to make.

Drew was cutting up fruit when Rick came into the kitchen, showered and dressed, “Those smell delicious.”

Drew turned, “As long as Brianna likes them.”

They shared a smile of pure joy, they knew she wasn’t a baby, but she was their first baby regardless of her age. 

“She called me Dad last night.”

Drew turned and looked surprised. “She called you dad first?”

“Stop. Don’t read anything into it. She had a hard time sleeping, I was there.” Rick moved over to stand in front of Drew with his hands on his husband’s shoulders. “I’m sure she’ll be calling you dad when she gets up.”

“I guess we’re about to find out.” Drew pointed to the ceiling, the sound of footprints bringing silly grins to their faces.

Brianna came down the stairs, “Are those waffles?” Her eyes lit up.

“Just for you.” Drew pointed to the table, which Rick had set with dishes, silverware and fresh fruit. Before Drew could ask, she walked to the refrigerator and pulled out the apple juice and took it to the table. Rick started the coffee and they sat down to breakfast together.

“So what happens when we go to the court?”

Drew reached over and grabbed her hand, which had started to fidget when she started talking, “We’ll go into a family courtroom, the judge is going to ask a few questions and we just have to answer them honestly, he or she will probably ask Nina some questions and then we’ll sign some papers and you’ll be our daughter legally too.”

“No one can stop it, right?”

Rick smiled at Brianna, “No, sweetie, no one can stop it. You’re coming home our daughter today.”

“What will my last name be?”

Drew and Rick looked at each other, they never chose a last name when they got married, they were both set in careers so it had never occurred to them to choose. 

“Well, uh, what do you think it should be?” Rick looked at Drew who shrugged his shoulders, they probably should have thought about this sooner.

“Alister.” Brianna looked at Rick, “Is that ok?”

“That’s perfect, I was thinking it’s about time for me to get a name change myself.”

Brianna smiled and went about eating breakfast, conversation fell away and it was perfect.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

10am 

Brianna came down the stairs in a new dress that Jordan had helped her pick out when they had a “girls day.” Brianna had never had her nails done, so Jordan took her for a mani-pedi and some shopping to get ready for her adoption day. Drew and Rick were thankful to have Jordan in their corner; Brianna would need a woman in her life and with their families living far away, Jordan and even Shannon would be assets as she got older. Rick and Drew both had tears in their eyes when she got to the bottom of the stairs.

“You look beautiful.” They said in unison which made all three of them fall into laughter.

“Can we take a picture before we leave? Our first family picture. I never had one of those before.”

“Of course.” Rick grabbed Brianna’s camera and balanced it on the banister, “Get ready.” He set the timer and once he was sure it was set, he moved back and the three of them stood smiling. 

After the click, Brianna grabbed her camera and stared at the photo for a minute. “I love it.”  
“Looks good to me,” Drew looked over Brianna’s shoulder, “Let’s go and get you adopted.”

Brianna bounded out of the house to the truck followed by Drew and Rick. She chatted nonstop the entire way to the courthouse. Her excitement was contagious and Drew and Rick couldn’t wipe the smiles off of their faces. At Brianna’s request, Drew and Rick were both in uniform; she said she wanted everyone to know her dads were heroes. With a request like that, they couldn’t say no.

Nina met them in the hallway outside of the courtroom, “Hey Brianna, you ready?”

“Yes!”

“Can I have a minute with Brianna alone?”

“Sure.”

“Yeah.” Drew and Rick moved away from them but stayed within earshot.

Nina stood in front of Brianna, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “Brianna, we’ve been through a lot together. I promised you when we met that I would find you a forever family and it turns out you didn’t need me to. You found them all on your own. I want you to know that I love you and I’m here for you if you ever need me. I’m sorry it took so long for you to find your forever family but I wouldn’t trade any of the time I spent with you.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a jewelry box. “This is for you.”

“For me?”

Nina nodded, holding in her tears, “Yes, for you.”

Brianna looked up at Nina and then back down to the box, she slowly lifted the lid. Inside laid a bracelet of colorful plastic beads. Brianna recognized it; it was a Mother’s Day craft from elementary school.

Nina picked the bracelet up and held it in her hand. “You made this in third grade and asked me if you could give it to me because you didn’t have a mother. I told you that one day, you would have a mother and I wouldn’t leave you until we found her. You found two incredible fathers and I’m sure,” Nina looked over to the two men who stood out of earshot but were watching the interaction, “your dads would love to have something you made for them. You have a bright future ahead of you and I’m so happy that I have been able to be a part of your story.”

“I love you, Nina.” Brianna threw her arms around Nina and held her tight.

“Me too, Bri. Me too.” Nina returned the hug and looked over at Drew and Rick and mouthed the words, ‘Thank you.”

They stood to the side, holding hands and returned Nina’s smile. Kids like Brianna were the reason Nina became a social worker, when they had nobody, they had her. She had seen plenty of kids find happy families and she was happy to be a part of their past and for many, their futures. Her office was covered in pictures of happy kids with their forever families. She always had a soft spot for Brianna. Finally, they pulled away from each other, wiped their eyes and walked over to join Rick and Drew and head into the courtroom.  
Family court was nothing like they expected, it was much smaller than a regular trial courtroom, the room was empty except for the four of them, a court officer and a court stenographer. The judge, Judge Walker, didn’t look much older that Drew and Rick, he had a big smile as he sat at his bench. The four of them sat at a long table in front of the judge, Brianna between Drew and Rick, holding their hands tightly.

“This is the best part of my job.” Judge Walker started, “Brianna, it is my understanding that you wish to be adopted by Drew Alister and Rick Lincoln, is this correct?”

Brianna nodded, “Yes.”

“So how this is going to work, I have a couple of questions for each of you which is how we’ll start and then by the end, we’ll have you adopted. Does that sound good?” The judge was looking at Brianna, who couldn’t hide her smile.

“It sounds great.”

“Ok, I’ll ask that you stand for the questioning.” The four of them stood up, Brianna still holding tight to Rick and Drew.

“Ms. Alvarez, please state your name and occupation.”

“Nina Alvarez, I’m the social worker assigned to Brianna’s case by the State of Texas.”

“As Brianna’s social worker, you have determined that the adoption of Brianna by Dr. Alister and Mr. Lincoln is in her best interest?”

“Yes, your honor, I have been with Brianna since she entered the system and I have been working with her through each of her placements. I do believe she has found her forever home and she did it all on her own.”

“In your capacity, do you believe that Dr. Alister and Mr. Lincoln can provide a safe, stable home environment for Brianna?”

“Yes, I do your honor. I have witnessed the love and devotion that they have shown to Brianna. She does have a health history including a recent organ transplant, of which they were by her side every step of the way and spent many hours sleeping in the hospital chairs before, during and after her surgery. I also believe that Dr. Alister’s medical expertise will be vital should Brianna have any incident of organ rejection.”

“Thank you, Ms. Alvarez.” The judge looked over at Drew and Rick, “I have to say, I’ve read a lot of letters of support but those I received in support of your adoption have blown me away. You have some pretty amazing people in your lives. My questions for you are simple. By entering into an adoption agreement, you are taking full responsibility for the health and welfare of Brianna for the rest of her life. This does not end when she turns 18, this is a lifetime commitment. Are you able to provide a stable, safe home for her?”

“Yes.” Drew and Rick answered in unison. 

“I see on the records that you are an Army doctor recently returned from a deployment overseas, is that correct?”

“Yes, your honor.”

“And you,” He looked over at Rick, “were medically discharged from the Army and currently work with the SWAT team as a training officer, is that correct?”

“Yes, your honor.”

“While both of these careers do carry a risk, after reading your letters of support, I do not believe it will cause undue stress or harm to Brianna to have both of her parents in potentially dangerous positions.”

“Thank you.” Rick spoke first.

“Yes, thank you.”

The judge looked straight at Brianna, “Now, I only have 1 question for you, why do you want to be adopted by Dr. Alister and Mr. Lincoln?”

“I was always the sick kid with no parents. I had a foster mom, Avery, who wanted to adopt me. She was going to be my mom, I was going to have her last name and we would be like real family.” Brianna’s grip on Drew’s hand tightened, “We were in a car accident and she died, the first person I saw after the accident was Drew. He stayed with me, he kept checking on me, he brought me to see her before she died and when I ran away, he came to find me. Avery used to talk about how we were meant to be a family and I think, I think,” Brianna paused, her voice getting thick with holding in tears, “I think Avery left me for Drew, she said she would never leave me but then she did and he was there. Maybe I was meant to be his family and not hers.”

Drew had to hold his tears in, Brianna had never expressed any of this to them and judging by the tears in Rick and Nina’s eyes, she hadn’t with them either. 

The judge smiled at them, “Brianna, I think you’re right. You are meant to be a family and it is my privilege and honor to be the one who gets to sign the papers to say that legally you are a family.” Brianna started to bounce on her heels, her excitement starting to get the best of her. “This is my favorite part of the job.” The judge stood up and walked over to the table with a stack of papers, “Brianna, I want you to stand right here and watch me sign this. Ok?”

“Yes.” Brianna moved to stand next to him.

He quickly signed his name and then asked Drew and Rick to sign their names as well. “Brianna, by the Family Court of Texas, you are now legally the daughter of Drew Alister and Rick Lincoln.” 

Before she could stop herself, Brianna hugged the judge, “Thank you so much!”

He hugged her back, “I’m so happy for you Brianna, this is the very best part of my job.”

Drew and Rick shook his hand and then they all stood together for Nina to take a photo of them. After photos and receiving the court documents they would need to apply for Brianna’s name change, they headed home to get ready for the party. They separated with Nina promising to stop by the house later to celebrate.

Brianna was quiet in the backseat on the way back to the house and when Drew looked in the rearview mirror, he could see Brianna staring at the papers and running her fingers over the signatures.

Rick broke the silence, “You’re stuck with us forever.”

Brianna’s face lit up, “I can’t wait.”

They arrived home with plenty of preparations to be done for the party, Rick dropped Drew and Brianna off at the house and went to pick up the balloons they ordered as well as a bouquet of flowers for Brianna and one for Nina. Drew would be making sure the house was in order before who knows how many people Brianna invited over would show up.

Brianna knew what to do with the bracelet Nina had given her and decided that now was as good a time as any. She went looking for Drew and found him checking the coolers in the backyard and opening packs of cups, plates and silverware

“Dad?”

Drew paused when he heard her call him dad and he took a deep breath before turning around, he was never as emotional as he had been the past few days. “What’s up?”

Brianna stood by the sliding glass door, looking down and scuffling her foot on the deck, she had started to rethink her plan.

Drew walked over, “Hey, what’s going on?”

Brianna held the box out, “I want you to have this, Nina gave it to me today but it’s really for you.”

Drew took the box and slowly opened it to find the brightly colored beads, “I made that in third grade. We were doing a Mother’s Day craft and I didn’t have a mom so I asked Nina if I could give it to her and she took it. She told me that one day, we would find my mom and she would be with me until we did. I know you and Rick are my dads but I want you to have this. I know it’s silly but Nina said that you might like to have it since you missed out on those years.”

Drew held the bracelet in his hand, “I love it Brianna, it’s almost perfect. Do you know what would make it perfect?”

Brianna shrugged.

“If you would put it on my wrist, just like you would’ve done back in third grade.”

Brianna smiled and grabbed the bracelet, slipping it on Drew’s wrist. “I love you, dad.” Brianna wrapped her arms around Drew.

Drew pulled her close, “I love you too, daughter.”


End file.
